It may be that the reason Americans don't like jazz is that we take it for granted because we invented it. It's uninteresting because we've heard various forms of it our entire lives — from nightclub fare to swing to dixieland to jazz's roots in gospel and spirituals and blues and bluegrass. Ho hum, we've heard it all before.

Another reason may be that few of us play an instrument. Those who do can't help but appreciate the skill required to play even a simple line of jazz, much less in an ensemble or when inventing the line extemporaneously.

Frankly I'm in awe of the raw musicality of people like Armstrong or Coltrane or Fitzgerald, even though their music generally doesn't entertain me, at least, nowhere near as much as it impresses me technically and artistically. And I do play an instrument (or used to).

All the same may be said of classical music too, which I believe is also dying in America. However I tend to like classical more than jazz, for some reason(s) I also can't explain.

That said, I do love to hear non-jazz artists adopt elements of jazz into their music, like Sting's use of jazz's instruments, layering, and weird time signatures. Maybe there's a future for jazz as the spice that adds flavor to other genres of music.